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It’s all part of an effort to reduce greenhouse gases.

ByErika Owen on April 25, 2019

Mayor Bill de Blasio shared at a press conference on April 22 that New York City will no longer be building skyscrapers with steel or glass as an attempt to better our climate change situation. The new initiative, which is called OneNYC 20150 and measures in at $14 billion, will ban the use of glass and steel in new construction given that buildings are some of the top causes of increasing greenhouse gases.

"We're going to introduce legislation to ban the glass and steel skyscrapers that have contributed so much to global warming," de Blasio said at the press conference. "They have no place in our city or on our Earth anymore." Dezeen reports that the new initiative works toward the goal of “reducing emissions in New York by 30 percent by the year 2030.”

Along with this new overall strategy for skyscraper construction, de Blasio has also put in some strict rules for landlords regarding the energy efficiency of apartment buildings in the city. Specifically, landlords who do not implement energy efficient strategies in their buildings could face fines upwards of $1 million every year.

One question remains: If someone wants to build a skyscraper, what should they use? Well, the architect may need to get creative. “If a company wants to build a big skyscraper [then] they can use a lot of glass, [as long as] they do all the other things needed to reduce our emissions," de Blasio said. "But putting up monuments [dedicated] to themselves that harm our Earth and threaten our future...that will no longer be allowed in New York City."

You can watch the entire press conference, which took place on Earth Day, on YouTube.